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Live updates from the courtroom Monday, July 28, as closing arguments begin in the case to determine whether Shelly Sterling has the right to sell the Los Angeles Clippers. Donald Sterling argues that she doesn’t.

Embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling filed a civil lawsuit against the NBA and his wife Shelly on Tuesday, alleging fraud and asserting himself as the sole shareholder in the team he has owned since 1981.

Donald had already filed a federal lawsuit against the league in June seeking antitrust damages, and is currently embroiled in a probate trial with Shelly Sterling that could decide whether or not she had the right to sell the team for $2 billion.

Live updates from reporter Jack Wang at the unpredictable trial to determine whether Shelly Sterling has the legal right to sell the Los Angeles Clippers. Trial is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m., Monday, July 21. Follow here:

Seeking to push through the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers, attorneys for Shelly Sterling filed papers in a downtown court Wednesday, asking a judge to sign off on Sterling’s right to sell the franchise.

Sterling’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell filed a petition early Wednesday asking a judge to confirm that his client is the sole trustee of the Sterling Trust. O’Donnell argues Shelly’s husband Donald Sterling is “mentally incapacitated” and doesn’t have the authority to fight the sale.

Appearing in court to oppose the petition was Donald Sterling’s attorney Bobby Samini, who called assertions his client is mentally incapacitated “ridiculous.”

Just after noon on Wednesday, a judge set a hearing for July 7. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Sunday that the league will likely vote to approve the sale during a Board of Governors meeting scheduled for July 15. Continue reading →

Even as his franchise steps toward a new regime, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling plans to sue the NBA for $1 billion in damages.

Attorney Maxwell Blecher confirmed that his client intends to file suit against the league, as first reported by NBC News. Sterling’s wife, Shelly, agreed Thursday to sell the franchise to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion after reportedly having her husband declared mentally incapacitated. She in turn claimed full control of the Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers.

The league has not yet approved the sale of the Clippers, and is proceeding with a June 3 hearing to oust Donald Sterling. Commissioner Adam Silver has maintained that the preferred outcome is a voluntary sale.

Sterling is seeking damages for the lifetime ban the NBA handed him last month and his termination charges.

The record-setting transaction was signed by Ballmer and Sterling Thursday evening, but both parties remained mum until releasing statements late that night.

Shelly Sterling said in the release that she was acting as the sole trustee of the Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers. ESPN reported that experts had recently declared co-owner Donald Sterling to be “mentally incapacitated,” transferring power over the team to Shelly under the rules of the trust.

“I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner,” Shelly Sterling said. “We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success.” Continue reading →

Although Donald Sterling’s formal response to the NBA on Tuesday asked that he not be terminated as Clippers owner — followed by his attorney’s vow to ESPN to “fight to the bloody end” — his wife Shelly Sterling is proceeding with a sale.

Her attorney Pierce O’Donnell said in a statement Tuesday night that she is managing the sale of the team with written consent from her husband.

Multiple reports indicate that Donald Sterling had sent another letter to the NBA on May 22, saying that he had empowered Shelly to sell the franchise they have owned since 1981. However, the league has never approved Shelly Sterling as a controlling owner.

The NBA advisory-finance committee also met again on Wednesday via conference call to discuss Donald and Shelly Sterling’s responses to the charge to terminate their ownership of the Clippers.

“These documents, along with the charge, were distributed to the NBA Board of Governors, which will meet on June 3 at 1 p.m. in New York City to hear and vote upon this matter,” league spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement.

A three-fourths majority vote by the board would terminate Sterling’s stake in the team.

The Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion in March 2012, though the Los Angeles baseball team has a far more storied history than the Clippers. That purchase nearly doubled the previous top price tag for a U.S. sports franchise: the Miami Dolphins selling for $1.1 billion in 2009.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling wants to cede control of the Los Angeles basketball franchise to his wife, Shelly Sterling, and allow her to orchestrate a sale.

The NBA, however, has yet to approve the transfer.

“We continue to follow the process set forth in the NBA Constitution regarding termination of the current ownership interests in the Los Angeles Clippers and are proceeding toward a hearing on this matter on June 3,” league spokesperson Mike Bass said.

Article 5 of the NBA Constitution states that no membership can be transferred “in whole or in part, directly or indirectly” without league approval.

The member in question — in this case, Donald Sterling — must submit a written request to the NBA commissioner, who then takes steps to vet the new prospective member. League owners must then approve the transfer with a three-fourths majority vote.

As he officially introduced himself to Los Angeles, Clippers interim CEO Dick Parsons made one of his beliefs clear: the NBA franchise’s transfer to new ownership is “inevitable.”

“There’s so much momentum for doing the right thing,” he said in a Monday press conference.

Parsons, a former Citigroup and Time Warner chairman who was appointed by the NBA last week, said he has not yet talked with either owner Donald Sterling — banned for life by the NBA two weeks ago — or his wife, Shelly, who has vowed to fight for her 50 percent share of the Clippers regardless of what happens to her husband.

The NBA Board of Governors needs a three-fourths majority vote to force Donald Sterling to sell the team, something league commissioner Adam Silver was confident he could get. The league also issued a statement on Sunday that if the controlling owner of a team is ousted, all other owners’ interests are also terminated. Donald is the only controlling owner of the Clippers approved by the league.

Shelly Sterling’s lawyer, Pierce O’Donell, called the league’s interpretation of its constitution “self-serving.”

While Parsons acknowledged the potential of a Sterling lawsuit, he said it would not be good for any of the involved parties.

“I think a prolonged legal battle is in no one’s interest,” Parsons said. “Literally, no one. Certainly not in the league’s interest. … Not good for the team, not good for the players. And I don’t think good for the perception of our country. And I don’t think it’s good for the Sterlings. Continue reading →

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